An administrative issue on comments. Because I apparently violated a
security policy on our department computers, you can no longer post
new comments on the old commenting system, that is on posts before May 9,
2004 as well as the General Comments link. You still can read the old
comments and post comments on posts since May 9, 2004.

And while I'm on the topic of comments and because some have asked, I
have never and never will post a comment anonymously on this
weblog. I encourage everyone to sign their comments (what do you have
to hide) or at least use an alias so we can match comments to the same
writer. Still I'd rather you leave comments anonymously than not leave
them at all.

I've also been asked about deleting comments. I reserve the right to
delete any comment but so far have done so only in the following
cases:

Duplicate comments.

Comment spam.

Once because the author of the comment requested it to be deleted.

Once because the comment was too long. The comment started with
something like "I wrote a book on the topic and here is the first
chapter…" If you have something long to say put it
somewhere else on the web and put a link in the comments.

11 comments:

There is a theory student (David Ratajczak) at Berkeley with Bacon number 2 and Erdos number 3. (And I think this is the present Bacon-Erdos record, 2+3=5.)

Erdos 3 is through Moni Naorhttp://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~dratajcz/.

Bacon 2 is through Tim Robbins (Cradle will Rock, 1999) and Tim Robbins was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon (2003).

This can be verified at http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/.

[As for aliases: It only takes about three distinct posts on this blog to triangulate the identity of someone given a consistent alias. That's why it's bad to use an alias if you want to remain anonymous.]

For a comment about comments to commenters: Please! Don't feed the trolls!

There are very few trolls around on this blog, but if you do find someone saying something obnoxious, only to get a reaction from others, don't give them the satisfaction of even a notice. The game theory here is that they'll get bored and then go away.

--

In other news, I associate produced an independent film, which included meeting and talking with several SAG actors who all have a Bacon number of 2 from real movies. Some say that doesn't quite count for giving me a Bacon number; it just depends on if "was involved in a movie with" counts.

To correct my first post, I think Daniel Kleitman (MIT) has Erdos number 1 and Bacon number 2. If his walk-by in Good Will Hunting counts, that is. (He was seen through a window if I recall. Also, he has a "thanks" credit on IMDB.)

Bacon number 2 is through Minnie Driver who was in Sleepers (1996) with Kevin Bacon.

Interviewer:After the show, you attended UCLA, became a genius and published a paper on Percolation and Gibbs states multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller models on $\mathbb Z^2$. I really enjoyed the part on infinite occupied clusters.

Winnie:It�s really complicated and not that interesting to most people.

David Ratajczak is two people. The imdb entry incorrectly merges the musician with the former Berkeley student who had a speaking role in Pet Cemetary II. His Bacon number should be recalculated based on his Pet Cemetary II connections alone. For example, Anthony Edwards has a BN of 2, therefore David Ratajczak has at least a BN of 3.